Do not use a dummy sign to keep the sign column open.

This removes the g:gitgutter_sign_column_always option.

Vim 7.4.2201 introduced the |signcolumn| option to configure when the
signcolumn is visible, building in behaviour which the plugin provided
manually.

Although it would be good to maintain this feature for older Vims, the
complexity added by the code outweighs the benefit of backward
compatibility.

README.mkd

@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ With Neovim 0.3.2 or higher, you can turn line number highlighting on and off (d
 
 Note that if you have line highlighting on and signs off, you will have an empty sign column – more accurately, a sign column with invisible signs.  This is because line highlighting requires signs and Vim always shows the sign column even if the signs are invisible.
 
-If you switch off both line highlighting and signs, you won't see the sign column.  That is unless you configure the sign column always to be there (see Sign Column section).
+If you switch off both line highlighting and signs, you won't see the sign column.
 
 To keep your Vim snappy, vim-gitgutter will suppress the signs when a file has more than 500 changes.  As soon as the number of changes falls below the limit vim-gitgutter will show the signs again.  You can configure the threshold with:
 
@@ -293,11 +293,8 @@ highlight SignColumn guibg=whatever      " gVim/MacVim
 By default the sign column will appear when there are signs to show and disappear when there aren't.  To always have the sign column, add to your vimrc:
 
 ```viml
-if exists('&signcolumn')  " Vim 7.4.2201
+" Vim 7.4.2201
 set signcolumn=yes
-else
-  let g:gitgutter_sign_column_always = 1
-endif
 ```
 
 GitGutter can preserve or ignore non-gitgutter signs.  On Vim and Neovim < 0.4.0, gitgutter will default to preserving other signs; on Neovim >= 0.4.0 gitgutter defaults to ignoring them.  You can control this with:

autoload/gitgutter.vim

@@ -175,7 +175,6 @@ endfunction
 
 function! s:clear(bufnr)
   call gitgutter#sign#clear_signs(a:bufnr)
-  call gitgutter#sign#remove_dummy_sign(a:bufnr, 1)
   call gitgutter#hunk#reset(a:bufnr)
   call s:reset_tick(a:bufnr)
   call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'path', '')

autoload/gitgutter/highlight.vim

@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ function! gitgutter#highlight#line_disable() abort
 
   if !g:gitgutter_signs
     call gitgutter#sign#clear_signs(bufnr(''))
-    call gitgutter#sign#remove_dummy_sign(bufnr(''), 0)
   endif
 
   redraw!
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ function! gitgutter#highlight#linenr_disable() abort
 
   if !g:gitgutter_signs
     call gitgutter#sign#clear_signs(bufnr(''))
-    call gitgutter#sign#remove_dummy_sign(bufnr(''), 0)
   endif
 
   redraw!
@@ -113,7 +111,6 @@ function! gitgutter#highlight#define_signs() abort
   sign define GitGutterLineRemovedFirstLine
   sign define GitGutterLineRemovedAboveAndBelow
   sign define GitGutterLineModifiedRemoved
-  sign define GitGutterDummy
 
   call s:define_sign_text()
   call gitgutter#highlight#define_sign_text_highlights()

autoload/gitgutter/sign.vim

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 " Note also we currently never reset s:next_sign_id.
 let s:first_sign_id = 3000
 let s:next_sign_id  = s:first_sign_id
-let s:dummy_sign_id = s:first_sign_id - 1
 " Remove-all-signs optimisation requires Vim 7.3.596+.
 let s:supports_star = v:version > 703 || (v:version == 703 && has("patch596"))
 
@@ -27,7 +26,6 @@ function! gitgutter#sign#disable() abort
 
   if !g:gitgutter_highlight_lines
     call gitgutter#sign#clear_signs(bufnr(''))
-    call gitgutter#sign#remove_dummy_sign(bufnr(''), 0)
   endif
 endfunction
 
@@ -40,7 +38,7 @@ function! gitgutter#sign#toggle() abort
 endfunction
 
 
-" Removes gitgutter's signs (excluding dummy sign) from the buffer being processed.
+" Removes gitgutter's signs from the buffer being processed.
 function! gitgutter#sign#clear_signs(bufnr) abort
   call s:find_current_signs(a:bufnr)
 
@@ -65,21 +63,6 @@ function! gitgutter#sign#update_signs(bufnr, modified_lines) abort
 endfunction
 
 
-function! s:add_dummy_sign(bufnr) abort
-  if !gitgutter#utility#getbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign')
-    execute "sign place" s:dummy_sign_id "line=" . 9999 "name=GitGutterDummy buffer=" . a:bufnr
-    call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign', 1)
-  endif
-endfunction
-
-function! gitgutter#sign#remove_dummy_sign(bufnr, force) abort
-  if gitgutter#utility#getbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign') && (a:force || !g:gitgutter_sign_column_always)
-    execute "sign unplace" s:dummy_sign_id "buffer=" . a:bufnr
-    call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign', 0)
-  endif
-endfunction
-
-
 "
 " Internal functions
 "
@@ -90,7 +73,6 @@ function! s:find_current_signs(bufnr) abort
   if !g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber
     let other_signs = []      " [<line_number (number),...]
   endif
-  let dummy_sign_placed = 0
 
   redir => signs
     silent execute "sign place buffer=" . a:bufnr
@@ -101,9 +83,6 @@ function! s:find_current_signs(bufnr) abort
     " We assume splitting is faster than a regexp.
     let components  = split(sign_line)
     let name        = split(components[2], '=')[1]
-    if name =~# 'GitGutterDummy'
-      let dummy_sign_placed = 1
-    else
     let line_number = str2nr(split(components[0], '=')[1])
     if name =~# 'GitGutter'
       let id = str2nr(split(components[1], '=')[1])
@@ -119,10 +98,8 @@ function! s:find_current_signs(bufnr) abort
         call add(other_signs, line_number)
       endif
     endif
-    end
   endfor
 
-  call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign', dummy_sign_placed)
   call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'gitgutter_signs', gitgutter_signs)
   if !g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber
     call gitgutter#utility#setbufvar(a:bufnr, 'other_signs', other_signs)
@@ -150,11 +127,7 @@ endfunction
 
 function! s:remove_signs(bufnr, sign_ids, all_signs) abort
   if a:all_signs && s:supports_star && (g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber || empty(gitgutter#utility#getbufvar(a:bufnr, 'other_signs')))
-    let dummy_sign_present = gitgutter#utility#getbufvar(a:bufnr, 'dummy_sign')
     execute "sign unplace * buffer=" . a:bufnr
-    if dummy_sign_present
-      execute "sign place" s:dummy_sign_id "line=" . 9999 "name=GitGutterDummy buffer=" . a:bufnr
-    endif
   else
     for id in a:sign_ids
       execute "sign unplace" id

doc/gitgutter.txt

@@ -292,7 +292,6 @@ Signs:~
     |g:gitgutter_sign_removed|
     |g:gitgutter_sign_removed_first_line|
     |g:gitgutter_sign_modified_removed|
-    |g:gitgutter_sign_column_always|
     |g:gitgutter_override_sign_column_highlight|
 
 Terminal:~
@@ -409,17 +408,6 @@ Defaults:
 You can use unicode characters but not images.  Signs must not take up more than
 2 columns.
 
-                                               *g:gitgutter_sign_column_always*
-Default: 0
-
-This legacy option controls whether the sign column should always be shown, even
-if there are no signs to display.
-
-From Vim 7.4.2201, use 'signcolumn' instead:
->
-    set signcolumn=yes
-<
-
                                    *g:gitgutter_override_sign_column_highlight*
 Default: 1
 

plugin/gitgutter.vim

@@ -32,13 +32,6 @@ if has('nvim-0.4.0') && !exists('g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber')
   let g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber = 1
 endif
 call s:set('g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber',          0)
-call s:set('g:gitgutter_sign_column_always',          0)
-if g:gitgutter_sign_column_always && exists('&signcolumn')
-  " Vim 7.4.2201.
-  set signcolumn=yes
-  let g:gitgutter_sign_column_always = 0
-  call gitgutter#utility#warn('please replace "let g:gitgutter_sign_column_always=1" with "set signcolumn=yes"')
-endif
 call s:set('g:gitgutter_override_sign_column_highlight', 1)
 call s:set('g:gitgutter_sign_added',                   '+')
 call s:set('g:gitgutter_sign_modified',                '~')